Under the new rules, drivers will very quickly figure new ways to fudge the facts in their log books.

In the first major revision of hours-of-service rules since 1939, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proved that you can’t please all of the people even some of the time.

According to the new rule, which is to go into effect Jan. 4, 2004, drivers may drive up to 11 hours instead of 10 hours. However, drivers will be limited to a 14-consecutive-hour duty period, which includes all driving time, on-duty-not-driving time and off-duty time. Simply put, 14 consecutive hours after beginning your duty shift you must shut down unless you are using a sleeper berth and “splitting” your log.

Sleeper Berth Exception: Drivers may split on-duty time by using sleeper berth periods, but must comply with the new hours-of-service rules. These drivers may accumulate the equivalent of 10 consecutive hours off-duty by taking 2 periods of rest in the sleeper berth, provided: Neither period is less than 2 hours; driving time in the period immediately before and after each rest period when added together does not exceed 11 hours; and the on-duty time in the period immediately before and after each rest period when added together does not include any driving after the 14th hour.

Each duty period must begin with at least 10 hours off-duty, rather than eight.

The 60 hours on-duty in seven consecutive days, or 70 hours on duty in eight consecutive days, remains the same, but drivers can “restart” the 7/8-day period by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty.

While the American Trucking Associations and most other industry spokespersons praised the new rule, others loudly derided it.

Jim Johnston, president of the Owner Operators and Independent Drivers Association, said in a press release, “After almost 65 years of working with regulatory controls that should have been declared obsolete decades ago, this is a pretty sorry excuse for a revision to address today’s problems.”

The press release also stated, “Not until shippers and carriers stop pressuring drivers to break the rules, and drivers are paid for all the work they do, will the hours-of-service rules have their intended effect.”

Rob Black, a spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was quoted in the New York Times saying, “Allowing an extra hour of driving time is going to increase driver fatigue and hurts safety. These changes are certainly favorable to corporations but they do not favor the worker.”

The National Sleep Foundation praised the decision to increase the required off-duty hours to 10, but said, “Increasing the allowable hours of continuous driving time by an hour and permitting a total of 14 hours of continuous work time per day is likely to offset other gains and continue to provide adverse risks for commercial drivers and others on the road.”

As an experienced over-the-road driver I am taking a wait and see approach. I hope that the 14-hour rule, coupled with the 10 hour break, will decrease fatigue. I would like to think that the days of putting in 15, 16 or 18-hour shifts in pursuit of 10 hours paid driving are over.

Realistically, however, I know that in less than 30 days drivers will be forced by psychological and monetary factors to figure new ways to fudge the facts in their log books. So long as the falsifying of duty records results in financial rewards, as it does now, the majority of drivers will show real talent in doing so; and who can really blame them.

So where does the answer to increased safety lie? Just ask Jim Johnston. He has repeatedly pointed in the right direction. “Not until shippers and carriers stop pressuring drivers to break the rules, and drivers are paid for all the work they do, will the hours-of-service rules have their intended effect.”

Just ask Daphne or Steve Izer of Parents Against Tired Truckers. Ask the director of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. Ask me.

Repeal trucking’s slanderous and outdated exemption from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Prohibit the sweatshop practice of mileage pay.

Pay all drivers a living hourly wage for all work that they do.

Safety can not be honestly addressed until the present system of economic rewards for unsafe practices is removed.

Until that day I am afraid that the FMCSA is just spinning its wheels.

Guy Bourrie has been hauling on the highways for 20 years. He lives in Washington, Maine, and can be reached at redhaven@midcoast.com.

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